Soprano Crew
The Soprano crew is one of the eight crews of the DiMeo crime family. Founded around 1960 by Giovanni 'Johnny Boy' Soprano, the crew was known for its large number of skilled and astute members. The crew is currently led by Pasquale 'Patsy' Parisi. With the exception of the Barese crew, the Soprano crew is the only crew of the original eight that made up the family that is still fully functioning and active. Foundation and Johnny Boy's reign (circa.1960-1989) The Soprano crew was founded in about 1960 by Giovanni 'Johnny Boy' Soprano. Johnny Boy had been good friends with Ercoli 'Old Man Ekley' DiMeo (the Boss of the family) for several years pre-1960, and had a huge amount of respect for him. When Ercoli decided to increase the family's population, he split it into four different crew (La Manna, Curto, Junior and Soprano). Johnny ran the Soprano crew and his older brother, Corrado 'Uncle Junior' Soprano the Junior crew. Johnny, along with Michele 'Feech the King of Breadsticks' La Manna, was known as one of the most ruthless and respected mobsters in the entire family. Although well liked, he had a mean streak as well, and wasn't afraid to reveal it from time to time. Johnny was also known to have ruthless, yet liked, side kicks; notably Richard 'Dickie' Moltisanti (who was sadly murdered by a policeman in 1975), Patrizio 'Uncle Pat' Blundetto (Johnny's partner-in-crime and cousin), and Peter 'Paulie Walnuts' Gualtieri (Johnny's and Uncle Pat's bodyguard throughout the 60s and 70s). During the 80s, Johnny also brought his son (Anthony 'Tony' Soprano) along with his friends (Silvio 'Sil' Dante and Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero) into his crew. The two proved capable mobsters and Johnny was proud of his work. Ercoli, although he never had an Underboss of Consigliere, named Johnny his sworn successor as Boss, were he to die or get arrested (this was after Feech been arrested, explaining why he wasn't Ercoli's successor, rather than Johnny, who was not as experienced or old as Feech). However, Johnny soon got emphysema and died of cancer in 1989. The whole family was taken by shock. Tony's reign (1989-1999) After Johnny's death, Tony his son was pronounced as the Capo of the Soprano crew, with Sil as his second-in-command. Tony was very well liked by the rest of the family and was thought to be the greatest of all the Capos, with the exception of Giacomo 'Jackie' Aprile Sr., who was later promoted to Boss in 1995, after Ercoli's arrest. Tony and fellow Capo James 'Little Jimmy' Altieri, were the youngest yet most successful Capos during the late 90s. In 1998, Jackie was diagnosed with intestinal cancer, and by 1999, was in and out of the hospital daily. Jackie and Tony and been like brothers they were at high school together, and at deaths door, Jackie thought it might be a clever idea to start picking a successor. He picked Tony, which thoroughly angered Junior, who had never been considered for Boss, despite being the most experienced mobster in the whole family (though he was hated by almost all). Jackie died in mid-1999, and Tony himself promoted Junior to Boss instead of himself. With Junior in the top position, the FBI would always have the spotlight on him, rather than Tony, who actually ran the organisation. This meant Tony was less likely to get in trouble than Junior. However, later that year, an assassination attempt was made on Tony, though it fail, leaving Tony only with a small ear injury. When Tony found out who had hired hit men to assassinate him, he was shocked and angry - Junior and his Consigliere, Michael 'Mikey Grab Bag' Palmice (a mobster Tony thoroughly hated), had created a conspiracy against Tony, after it was revealed to Junior that Tony was seeing a therapist. Junior therefore believed Tony was working for the FBI, which was not true. Tony took violent action, demanding the death of everyone in the conspiracy. By the end of the week, all but one of the six members of the conspiracy had been killed or arrested: Junior had been arrested and was awaiting a re-trial; Joe 'Beppy' Sasso, the family's Underboss, had been given a life sentence; Mikey was murdered; Charles 'Chucky' Signore, a Soldier in the Junior crew was murdered; Donnie Paduana, an Associate in the Junior crew was murdered. Philip 'Philly Spoons' Parisi, the Capo of the Junior crew, was only man remaining. Tony spared him since his twin brother, Pasquale 'Patsy' Parisi, was loyal to him, and he didn't want to create any social conflicts. Due to Beppy Sasso's imprisonment for life, Tony promoted himself to Underboss, his second-in-command Sil to Consigliere, and Paulie Walnuts to Capo. In 2000, Paulie and Tony had Spoons murdered by Gigi Cestone, another Soldier, for spreading nasty rumours about Tony in an attempt to start a mutiny. He got an answer. Paulie Walnuts's reign (1999-2007) After Tony's promotion to Acting Boss and Sil's promotion to Consigliere (due to Mikey's assassination), Paulie Walnuts was promoted to Capo of the crew as well as underboss. Paulie was a reasonable earner, and an overall good Capo, though sometimes certain Soldiers and Associates thought he took too much pleasure when pulling rank. An example of this was in 2001 when Chrissy had just been promoted to the rank of Soldier. While most of the family applauded his achievement, Paulie simply told Chrissy to take off his clothes, in order to do a full scale inspection of Chrissy, to check he wasn't wearing a wire (a recorder that is placed by the FBI when working for them). Paulie also enjoyed giving particularly hard tasks to Chrissy. It seems Paulie felt that Chrissie had risen too fast in the Family and hadn't necessarily "earned" his promotion, instead believing that he had gotten it mostly due to his family connection to Tony and Tony's personal loyalty to Chrissie's father. In Paulie's mind - and this was based on his own personal experience - rising to the top levels of the Family required many years of toil, steadfast loyalty, and a willingness and ability to successfully and without question complete all manner of "dirty work" for the organization. For this reason, Paulie determined that HE would make Chrissie earn his promotion and understand that the perks he was receiving as a Soldier do not usually come so easy. Paulie also had an obsession with being the highest-earning Capo, which he rarely ever was - the Aprile crew was always the high earning crew no matter who was running it, and the Barese, Junior and Curto crews all brought in a hefty amount of cash. This made Paulie angry and jealous, continuously arguing with the other Capos and claiming that he always had a share of their profits (which wasn't always true). Paulie's loyalties was another downfall of his - at one point in 2003, due to his hate for Capo Ralph Cifaretto, he talked to Lupertazzi Family underboss Johnny Sacrimoni about jokes Ralph made about John's wife. As for murders, Paulie was always ready for anything, though sometimes going too far (notably killing a waiter for insulting him and Chrissy when they left a small tip). Christopher was made Capo of a crew consisting of younger members of Paulie's crew. In 2007, he stepped down from the underboss position when it was revealed he had prostate cancer, which he beat. During the War of 2007, however, Paulie was loyal to his family, deciding not to join the Lupertazzi side, but to stay with the DiMeo mobsters instead. With Underboss Robert 'Bobby Bacala' Baccalieri Jr. dead and Sil in a coma, Paulie returned to the position of underboss. Expansion (2007-) After the death of Christopher Moltisanti, his small crew was merged back into Paulie's crew. After Capo Carlo Gervasi turned informant, Paulie Gualtieri was given control of his crew, which also consisted of remnants of Vito Spatafore's crew. As the season ended, Paulie Gualtieri was in control of a very large chunk of the Soprano family. List of members of the Soprano crew (NB: certain members were transferred to and from the Altieri and Moltisanti crews during 2006, but were transferred back to the Soprano crew in 2007): Giovanni 'Johnny Boy' Soprano - Capo (circa.1960-1989), died of emphysema. Anthony 'Tony' Soprano - Soldier (circa.1980-1989), Capo (1989-1999), promoted to Underboss and then Boss in 2006. Silvio 'Sil' Dante - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), promoted to Consigliere. Peter 'Paulie Walnuts' Gualtieri - Soldier (~1960-1999), Capo (1999-2007), promoted to Underboss. Christopher 'Chrissy' Moltisanti - Associate (~1990-2001), Soldier (2001-2006), promoted to Capo of his own crew, murdered in 2007 by Tony for being an incapable leader. Pasquale 'Patsy' Parisi - Soldier (1999-2007). Gigi Cestone - Soldier (1999-2000), promoted to Capo of the Aprile crew, died of a heart attack in 2001. Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero - Soldier (~1980-2000), murdered by Paulie, Sil, and Tony, for being an FBI informant. Patrizio 'Uncle Pat' Blundetto - Soldier (~1960-1995), retired due to old age. Richard 'Dickie' Moltisanti - Soldier (~1960-1975), murdered by a policeman, reasons unknown. Furio Giunta - Soldier (2000-2003), imported from Italy, went missing in 2003. Benito 'Benny' Fazio - Associate (2001-2005), Soldier (2005-). Peter 'Little Paulie' Germani - Associate (2001-2005), Soldier (2005-). Peter 'Petey Bissell' LaRosa - Associate (2001-2005). Giuseppe 'Beppy' Scerbo - Soldier (~1960-). Burt Gervasi - Associate (2006), Soldier (2006-2007), murdered by Sil for joining the Lupertazzi crime family during the War of 2007. Cary DiBartolo - Associate (2006), Soldier (2006-) . Walden Belfiore - Associate (2007), Soldier (2007-). Brendan Filone - Associate (circa.1990-1999), murdered by Mikey on orders from Uncle Junior for hijacking his trucks. Matthew 'Matt Drinkwater' Bevilacqua - Associate (2000), murdered by Big Pussy and Tony for attempting assassinate Christopher. Sean 'Gis' Gismonte - Associate (2000), murdered by Christopher when trying to assassinate him. Dante 'Buddha' Greco - Associate (2004-). Perry 'Muscles Marinara' Annunziata - Associate (2006-). Corky Corporale - Associate (2006-). James 'Murmur' Zancone - Associate (2006-). Jason Parisi - Associate (2007-). Category:Crews Category:DiMeo crime family